Air France Study Shows Excess of 560 Flight Attendants

Dec. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Air France-KLM Group said it must
eliminate as many as 600 cabin-crew posts from its main unit by
2014 as Europe’s biggest carrier pares flights to cut costs.

Voluntary departures from the Air France division will be
sought, though flight attendants could be fired if unions fail
to back the proposals and Chief Executive Officer Jean-Cyril
Spinetta’s Transform 2015 savings plan, the company said.

Alexandre de Juniac, chief executive officer of the Air
France brand, briefed cabin crew on the situation in a webcast
this afternoon, spokesman Jean-Charles Trehan said by telephone.

Air France will have an excess of 700 flight attendants
next year, 590 in 2014 and 560 in 2015, according to an internal
study dated Nov. 28 and obtained by Bloomberg News. Any job cuts
would be in addition to 5,000 that Spinetta is already seeking.

The “natural attrition” rate is about 300 crew a year,
according to earlier remarks from a person with knowledge of the
matter who asked not to be identified.